Colin Firth up for best actor as The King’s Speech leads Bafta nods

Colin Firth is widely expected to bag a
Bafta for his role in The King’s Speech after the star was nominated in the best actor category today – with the film picking up a whopping 14 nods.

Colin Firth has been nominated for best actor at the Baftas (Reuters)

Firth has already won an impressive 21 prizes for playing a stammering King George VI, including best dramatic actor at the Golden Globes on Sunday, and looks set to add to his awards haul at the Baftas on February 13.

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The star will battle it out with Javier Bardem , Jeff Bridges , Jesse Eisenberg, and James Franco for the best actor gong.

The King’s Speech has also been nominated for best film, while Tom Hooper is named in the best director category and Firth’s co-stars Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are both up for best supporting actor awards.

MORE: Baftas 2011: Full list of nominations

Natalie Portman is up for best actress (Photo: Reuters)

Ballet thriller Black Swan has been nominated for 12 gongs including best actress for its star Natalie Portman, best film, best supporting actress for Barbara Hershey and best director for Darren Aronofsky.

Portman also picked up a Golden Globe for best actress over the weekend for her role as an uptight ballerina on the brink of a meltdown.

Meanwhile, The Social Network, the story about the creation of Facebook, received six nominations including best film.

David Fincher is up for best director while Andrew Garfield is nominated for best supporting actor.

Garfield will be competing with Christian Bale, Pete Postlethwaite, Mark Ruffalo and Rush while in Amy Adams, Bonham Carter, Hershey, Lesley Manville and Miranda Richardson have been nominated in the best supporting actress field.